Doncic Out for Rest of NBA Regular Season With Hamstring Injury
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- Luka Doncic sustained a grade two left hamstring strain in Thursday's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and will miss the final five regular season games, with a scan on Friday yielding no return timetable from the Lakers.
- Doncic led the NBA in scoring this season with 2,143 points and a 33.5-point average, and in March became only the 10th player in history to score 600 points in a single month.
- Doncic was named March's player of the month after posting 13 consecutive 30-point games that powered a 13-1 stretch for the Lakers, putting him in the middle of a tight MVP race.
- Doncic is one appearance short of the 65-game threshold required to qualify for end-of-season awards, and his agent Bill Duffy said they will file an 'Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge' to the rule.
- The Lakers sit third in the Western Conference with the NBA playoffs set to begin on April 18, leaving Doncic's availability for the postseason unclear.
Why it matters: Doncic, the NBA's scoring leader at 33.5 PPG, is one game short of the 65-game threshold for end-of-season awards — his agent is filing an 'Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge' to get around it. With the playoffs starting April 18 and no return timetable set, both his individual honors and the third-place Lakers' postseason outlook hang in the balance.
